anyone lived in a pretty how town
by e. e. cummings
- 4 Members Following
Follow a topic to see new activity, such as homework help questions and answers, in your personal feed on the homepage.
Navigate
At a glance:
- Author: e. e. cummings
- First Published: 1940
- Type of Work: Poem
- Genres: Poetry, Narrative poetry
- Subjects: Children, Love or romance, Human behavior, Life, philosophy of, Life and death, Cities or towns, Bells
The Work
“Anyone lived in a pretty how town” is a poem in which Cummings’s wordplay is especially effective. The poem contrasts “anyone” and “noone” with “someones and everyones,” the first pair being the hero and heroine who love each other, the second pair being the anonymous mass of nonbeings who live lives of quiet desperation, as another New Englander, Henry David Thoreau, once lamented. Eventually “anyone” and “noone” die, but their lives have been meaningful and enriching; the rest of the townspeople—the “someones and everyones”—continue...
(The entire page is 602 words.)
Want to read the whole thing?
Subscribe now to read the rest of this article. Plus, get access to:
- 30,000+ literature study guides
- Critical essays on more than 30,000 works of literature from Salem on Literature (exclusive to eNotes)
- An unparalleled literary criticism section. 40,000 full-length or excerpted essays.
- Content from leading academic publishers, all easily citable with our "Cite this page" button.
- 100% satisfaction guarantee READ MORE
Popular Questions
See all »- Is Cummings a "serious" poet? In what ways did he experiment with language in "anyone lived in a pretty how town" and consider their...
- Explain the poem "anybody lived in a pretty how town" by e. e. cummings.
- Discuss three themes in “anyone lived in a pretty how town” that reflect America in the 1940s. Use poem for support.
